Felix Manual en

FELIX
ONLINE RENDERING M a n u a l | O k to b e r 2 0 0 9
FELIX
Index
3 Introduction
4 Quick start
4 Installation
4 Modeling tips
5 Workflow
5 How to optimize your credits
6 FELIX GUI
6 Keyboard shortcuts
7 How to import 3D models
9 The Projects Tab

10 3D VIEW window
11 The PROJECT window
14 The RENDER LIST window
15 The IMAGE VIEWER window
16 The Material Setup Tab

17 The MATERIALS window
18 The LAYERS window
19 The Material Editor Tab

20 The TEXTURES window
21 Materials and Environments editing
22 The MATERIALS window
23 The EDITOR |MATERIALS| window
24 The ENVIRONMENTS window
25 The EDITOR |ENVIRONMENTS| window
27 Addendum
27 Environments
31 People and Trees in FELIX
32 TEXTURE MAPPING
www.stack-studios.com
FELIX
Introduction
FELIX is an online rendering software developed and specifically designed for architects, designers and engineers.
FELIX can import and handle 3D models from the majority of modeling programs, such as 3DMAX, Rhino, Blender, Silo,
Sketchup FormZ, Autocad, etc. You don’t have to pay for a license in order to use FELIX, you only pay for what you use.
The technology used in FELIX dramatically reduces start-up costs, computational times and learning curve steepness.
FELIX is based on what is known as “Cloud Computing Architecture”. This means that FELIX is connected online to a
big data center, where it:
■■ computes renderings using Maxwell Render from Next Limit
■■ stores the renderings, 3D models, materials and settings in a safe location
■■ gives the user access to a huge shared materials library
FELIX uses a non-destructive workflow that guarantees data integrity over time. Felix’s output format stores within it
all the information regarding geometry, materials, lights etc. This information is stored in a way that can be recovered
and restored at any time and provide a complete backup for a scene.
FELIX Quick start | 4
Quick start
Installation
Firewall
Please refer to your firewall documentation or contact your system administrator.
Advanced firewall configuration

In order to work with FELIX, Internet ports 80 and 7975 must be kept open.
However, it is possible to restrict the access to IP numbers held only by FELIX.
At the moment these numbers are:

■■ 79.136.118.194
■■ 79.136.118.195
■■ 79.136.118.196
Reading / Writing rights

FELIX must be configured with complete read/ write rights in its installation folders.
Modeling tips
FELIX can import 3D formats from many 3D programs, such as 3DMAX, Rhino, Blender, Silo, Sketchup, FormZ etc. For
optimal final resuIts, you should keep in mind a few tips during the polygonal meshes lay out:
■■ The models must be measured in meters
■■ Always place your scene near the Cartesian Coordinate System’s origin
■■ The models must contain less than 3 million polygons
■■ Light sources must be laid out as 3D geometries.
They must be modeled in a scene embedded with polygons “normals” pointed towards the light direction axis
■■ It is usually more convenient to organize and name your layers following a surface-material basis
■■ Every geometry must be saved in one of the following formats: lwo, 3ds, obj or mxs
■■ Every part of the model to which a transparent or translucent surface-material has been applied must be a water-
tight mesh in order to avoid artifacts and unrealistic behavior
■■ When dealing with architectural projects (and only for these), it is useful to model the window panes without
thickness. Once a transparent material has been assigned, FELIX allows the option to extrude it. It is important to
remember in these cases that nothing in the layer should have a thickness other than zero.
Workflow
FELIX’s workflow consists of 4 steps:

■■ Importing 3D models
■■ Set up views
■■ Set up environments
■■ Assigning materials
■■ Final rendering
■■ More experienced users can also create their own materials and environments
How to optimize your credits
As already mentioned, there is no software license to pay with FELIX, but you pay only for what you use, which is
measured in credits. The amount of credits depends on the following factors:
■■ Final image resolution
■■ Final image quality
■■ Rendering speed
The cost in credits for each rendering is shown on the right side of the PROJECTS Window.
By selecting Render speed 2X from the menu bar, you double the rendering speed, and therefore, the use of credits
also increases by 50%. Note: rendering speed has absolutely no effect on the quality of images.
Therefore, it is advisable to lower the resolution, the quality and the speed for rendering tests. For example, a test
image with a resolution of 600 x 300 px, quality 1, speed 1X, will cost 0.28 credits (for credits cost please refer to...)
Also keep in mind the difference in noise perception that exists between images with the same quality level but dif-
ferent resolutions: the visible noise in a 600 x 300 px image can be irrelevant in a 4000 x 2000 px image.
For final renderings of outdoor scenes in natural light a quality level set on 2 is usually sufficient. Set the quality level
on 3 only for images in major presentations. It is recommended to set the quality level on 3 or 4 for final renderings
of indoor scenes with artificial light.
Unlike other software, with FELIX rendering times do not increase significantly with more light sources. Instead, a
larger number of light points helps to reduce the overall noise of the images.
The appropriate quality level for a final product design rendering may change depending on the lighting setup and
surface-materials.
FELIX GUI
FELIX’s user interface consists of three Tabs which correspond to the software’s three main working areas: Projects,
Material Setup and Material Editor. In order to access a Tab, its name must be selected from the menu bar.
The menu bar consists of the following items:

■■ Import | imports 3D models with file formats, such as lwo, mxs, obj and 3ds
■■ Save | saves the current FELIX scenes. If changes have been made to more than one project hitting the Save key saves them
all.
■■ Projects | gives access to the Projects Tab
■■ Material Setup | gives access to the Material Setup Tab
■■ Material Editor | gives access to the Material Editor Tab
■■ Options | changes passwords, checks credit amounts and provides information about current scenes
■■ Render Speed | increases rendering speed
■■ Render | starts any render listed in the Render Queue
Keyboard shortcuts
Generic
■■ Ctrl + r | refreshes the 3D model in a current scene
3D VIEW window
■■ r + Rmb | rotates the camera
■■ r + Lmb | tilts the camera
■■ o + Lmb | orbits camera around a selected object
■■ y + Lmb | moves camera back and forth
■■ n + Lmb | rotates environment and Maxwell's physical sky
■■ d + Mouse Click on a point in the scene | automatically sets up camera focal distance
■■ j + Mouse Click on a point in the scene | moves camera to that particular point
■■ h| aligns camera to the horizon
■■ q| switches back to the last saved view
How to import 3D models
Any imported 3D model is stored in a database in FELIX’s servers and must be saved in the Projects folders in order
to keep the archive organized. In FELIX, imported 3D models are called Scenes.
Once the import command is completed, the scene is displayed as a 3D geometry in the 3D VIEW window and as an
archive in the PROJECTS window.
Note: Projects are to be considered like folders. Their purpose is to keep a scene well-organized and to make the work
flow easier. The “Scene” itself is where actual information is stored, i.e. geometries, materials, lighting and views.
In order to import a 3D model, click on Import in the menu bar to open the import tab.
Use file Browser to select the object to be imported.
It must be saved in one of the following formats: lwo, obj, 3ds, mxs.
All the embedded scene layers will be shown in the Import window.
Note: If the layer's nomenclature doesn't match your needs, the exportation values must be fixed using the original
modeling software.
The last step for a correct scene import is to choose the right option
from the four available ones on the lower part of the Import tab:
■■ ADD NEW PROJECT | creates a fresh new scene inside a new project
■■ ADD SCENE TO PROJECT | creates a new scene inside an existing project
■■ ADD ON EXISTING SCENE | updates the 3D model of an existing scene
■■ ADD TO CURRENT SCENE | updates the 3D model in the current scene
The options ADD ON EXISTING SCENE and ADD TO CURRENT SCENE will substitute existing layers with newly
imported ones in order to avoid duplicates in the scene.
Examples:
3D model used in FELIX 3D model modification outside of FELIX 3D model updated in FELIX without duplicates
The first image shows the model currently used by FELIX.

The second image shows the model that has been fixed by the modeling software in use.
The third image shows the model updated in FELIX. Elements A and B have not been duplicated because the layers
have been completely replaced.
Note: Before using the keyboard shortcut | CTRL + R | to update the current scene in FELIX make sure that the file
previously exported from your modeling software has been overwritten.
F E L I X I l Ta b P r o j e c t | 9
The Projects Tab
By default, FELIX opens up with the Project Tab on at startup.

From the Project tab, the user can:
■■ Access any project
■■ Navigate inside a 3D scene
■■ Set up the framing of a scene
■■ Choose camera parameters
■■ Assign environments
■■ Send render jobs to the data center
■■ View the rendering output
3DVIEW window IMAGE VIEWER window
PROJECTS window RENDER LIST window
3D VIEW window
3D scene Scene orientation Camera parameters Texture alignment tools (pagg. 32)
The 3D VIEW window allows the user to modify the framing of a scene and “Camera” parameters. The camera be-
haves like a real world camera: the user can set focal distance, zoom factor (Focal length), diaphragm (F Stop) and
exposure time (Shutter Speed).
Main functions of the 3D VIEW window

■■ Lmb | moves the camera back and forth or from left to right (on the horizontal plane)
■■ Rmb | moves the camera up and down (on the vertical plane)
■■ r + Lmb | orbits the camera
■■ o + Lmb | orbits the camera around a selected object in the scene
■■ f + Lmb | zoom in or out
■■ d + Lmb | sets the camera focus on a particular object in the scene
■■ h | aligns the camera to the horizon
Focal length, Focal Distance, F Stop and Shutter Speed can also be adjusted with the assigned sliders in Camera
Parameters roll out.
The small icons on the top right are selection tools.
Note: Since FELIX’s camera works like a real camera, it makes images bright or dark according to the Aperture time.
If the image is too dark, just increase the exposure time rather than the intensity of light sources. Exposure time is
measured in fractions of a second. A value of 120 (1/120 of a second) therefore means a longer exposure time than
1200 (1/1200 of a second).
The PROJECT window
the projects column the scenes column render quality resolution credit cost Render Queue
Environment Options - Rmb over a view
The PROJECTS window gives the user access to projects and scenes.
The window consists of four columns. The first three columns from the left allow the user to scroll through the lists
of Projects, Scenes and related View. The fourth column, Render Queue, serves to start and control the rendering
progress. To switch from one project to another just click on its name with Lmb.
Main functions of the Project column

Click on a project name with Rmb and choose:
■■ HIDE | Hide a project from the list
■■ SHOW | Unhide a hidden project
Main functions of the Scene column

Click with Rmb on a scene name and choose:
■■ MATERIAL COPY, MATERIAL PASTE | copy & paste materials from one scene to another
■■ SCENE HISTORY |retrieve information from earlier versions of the same scene
Main functions of the View column

■■ Adjust the quality level of an image by dragging the mouse with Lmb pressed over the “Quality” graphic slider on
top of the View column. Note: the quality level is determined by the amount of noise in the image: the lower the
noise, the higher the quality. It is recommended to keep the quality level at 1 (i.e. a single white square) when doing
rendering tests and to increase it afterwards to obtain the final image.
■■ It is possible to increase image resolution in increments of 100 PX by dragging the mouse with Lmb pressed over
the View numeric slider.
■■ Double click on a resolution numeric value to manually change it.
■■ When you are ready to start rendering, drag any View item from the View column to the Render Queue column.
Click on Render on the right side of the menu to start the rendering job.
Note: On the right side of every View there is a number (by default 1 credit) that represents the cost (in credits) of an
image. The higher the quality and the resolution the higher the number of credits.
By clicking with Rmb on any View item in the list, a menu with the following commands opens up:
■■ ADD NEW | REMOVE | REMOVE ALL | add or remove Views from the list
■■ CLONE | clone a View
■■ CAMERA | set up position, orientation and all camera parameters
■■ RESOLUTION | choose the resolution of the image
■■ ENVIRONMENT | assign, copy or edit the environment.
Note: see ENVIRONMENT LIBRARY SETUP below
ENVIRONMENTS LIBRARY SETUP

To assign a particular environment to a view, just click with Rmb on the listed view and choose ENVIRONMENTS,
ENVIRONMENT LIBRARY. THE ENVIRONMENT LIBRARY SETUP opens up allowing the user to browse the environ-
ment library and to select the settings to be assigned to the view.
Main functions of the Render Queue column

By clicking with Rmb on a view item in the Render Queue column a menu opens up with the following commands:
■■ FORCE DONE |terminates the rendering before reaching the assigned quality level
■■ REMOVE | deletes a view from the render queue (only before starting the rendering job)
The RENDER LIST window
image listing filters
Use the RENDER LIST window to browse rendered images. The most recent ones are highlighted in green.
Main functions of the RENDER LIST window

Click on the column names to filter the listed images according to Project, Scene or View name.
The maximum number of images shown drag + Lmb to increase or lower the value) can be set on the upper right
hand corner of the window
Click with Rmb on an image in the RENDER LIST and choose IMAGE DETAIL. This command opens a tab with a sum-
mary of all the meta-data related to that image: materials set up, camera parameters, environment and 3D model. It
is possible to copy and paste these settings onto different scenes.
The IMAGE VIEWER window
image resolution zoom save image to folder
Lmb and drag in to Lmb and drag in to Lmb and drag in to Lmb and drag in to
3D view to copy 3D view to copy 3D view to copy 3D view to copy
camera parameters material pameters geometry data environment parameters
The IMAGE VIEWER window allows the user to view the image selected from the RENDER LIST.
As previously mentioned, FELIX’s image-format is not a simple bitmap, and therefore, the images in FELIX provide
a complete backup for a scene. FELIX’s images are made up of a unique format that contains all the information
regarding a particular scene (geometry, materials, camera, lights, environment). This information can be retrieved
and copied at any time. To put it simply, this image format guarantees a 100% non-destructive workflow.
Main functions of the IMAGE VIEWER window

■■ Zoom IN / Zoom OUT | zooms in/out of an image
■■ Save Image | saves an image on the user's hard disk
■■ Lmb on the upper left quadrant of the image and drag | copies camera parameters from that image onto the cur-
rent scene
■■ Lmb on the upper right quadrant of the image and drag | copies environment parameters from that image onto the
current scene
■■ Lmb on the lower left quadrant of the image and drag | copies materials from that image onto the current scene
■■ Lmb on the lower right quadrant of the image and drag | copies the 3D model from that image onto the current
scene
F E L I X I l Ta b M a t e r i a l S e t u p | 16
The Material Setup Tab
In the Material Setup tab, materials are set up and assigned to layers in the scene.
To assign a material just drag and drop it from the MATERIALS window both on the desired layer
(in the LAYERS window) or on the object (in the 3D VIEW window).
3DVIEW window IMAGE VIEWER window
LAYERS window MATERIALS window
The MATERIALS window
Categories Search History Category Pages Order by Rank Refresh
Search by name, user and ID Search filters Thumbnails
The MATERIALS window gives the user access to FELIX’s material database.
It is divided into four main categories: architecture, design, emitters, people & trees.
■■ Architecture |materials which have the appropriate size for architectural scenes ( i.e. from about 2 to 18 meters)
■■ Design | materials more suitable for close-ups (i.e. from about 0,5 to 2 meters)
■■ Emitters | materials emitting light (in FELIX, every object to which this kind of material is applied is automatically
turned into a light source)
■■ People e trees | this category contains a unique material called Sprite. See below for more information
Main functions of the MATERIALS window

■■ Use the search filters at the bottom of the TEXTURES window to quickly refine searches
■■ Hovering the mouse on a thumbnail gives access to information regarding the material,
such as the user who created it, the date it was created and its category
■■ The text search allows the user to filter materials by user name and category
■■ Rmb + Reload on a thumbnail reloads a thumbnail broken due to a network failure
The LAYERS window
Layer state on/off Material Thumbnail smoothing angle Material size Layer name Layer extrusion Material description
advanced material editing basic material editing hidden from camera hidden from rays hidden from GI
The LAYERS window shows how the layers of the current scene have been named previously in the modeling soft-
ware. All the layers in a newly created scene have a default material assigned (white opaque)
Any material assigned to a layer can be edited in basic mode (color, scale, smoothing) or in advanced mode (all the
typical Maxwell Render parameters)
Main functions of the LAYERS window

■■ Drag and Drop copies material from one layer to another
■■ Click on the white square on the left of the layer to make it visible/invisible
■■ Click on the dark triangle on the left of the layer to switch between basic and advanced editing mode
■■ Click on the Yes or Not toggle under the Layer Extrusion column to extrude geometries with no thickness.
The layer extrusion flag is available only when a transparent/translucent material is applied
■■ Rmb + REMOVE LAYER | deletes a layer
■■ Rmb + SELECT MATERIAL | shows the most updated version of a material in the MATERIALS window
■■ Rmb + SHOW | Rmb + HIDE | isolates a layer in the 3D VIEW window
F E L I X I l Ta b M a t e r i a l E d i t o r | 19
The Material Editor Tab
The Material Editor is where materials and environments are created and edited.Note that textures, materials and
environments in the library do not require space on the user’s hard disk because they are stored on FELIX’s servers..
Whenever a texture is imported or a material or environment is saved,

FELIX prompts the user to choose the desired level of sharing:
■■ Private | private elements are accessible and visible only to the user who created themi
■■ Protected | protected elements are accessible to all users belonging to the same FELIX contract
( i.e. all the users of the same company) and only to them
■■ Public | public elements are accessible to every FELIX user worldwide and can be duplicated and edited
TEXTURES window PREVIEW window
MATERIALS window EDITOR window
The TEXTURES window
The TEXTURES window is where textures are imported. FELIX supports images in the following formats: JPG, PNG,
TIF, and EXR for the environments at a maximum resolution of 16 Megapixel. 8 bit indexed images are also supported.
When importing a texture, FELIX prompts the user to define three points:
1| The category in which that texture fits the best:
for example, for a plaster it would be architecture/facing/interior/plaster
2| The real world size of that texture: for example, 3 meters for a bitmap of a wall 3 meters wide
3| The level of sharing for that texture: Private, Protected o Public
Category and sharing level must also be defined for materials and environments.
Note that environments only work with EXR images.
Main functions of the TEXTURE window

■■ Add New | adds a new texture. Choose Add New and then click to select a texture to browse the local hard drive
and locate the texture you would like to upload. Then define its category, real world size and sharing level.
■■ Edit | the Edit command behaves according to the selected texture in three different ways:
1| if the texture is owned by the user and imported in less than 48 hours, use Edit to replace the texture itself with a
new one
2| if the texture is owned by the user and imported in more than 48 hours, use Edit to change its category, real
world size or sharing level
3| if the texture is not owned by the user, use Edit to move it to a more appropriate category. FELIX doesn’t delete
the previous location, but will put both (the previous one and the new one) in competition
■■ Use the search filters at the bottom of the TEXTURES window to quickly refine searches.
■■ Hovering the mouse on a thumbnail gives access to information regarding the texture, such as the user who cre-
ated it, the date it was created and its category
■■ The text search allows the user to filter textures by user name and category
Materials and Environments editing
Materials and environments editing share the same windows.

To switch from one to the other just click on the labels MATERIALS and ENVIRONMENTS.
The MATERIALS window
Add New Edit Environment library Search History Category Pages Order by Rank Refresh
Materials can be created and edited in the Material window.
Funzioni principali della finestra MATERIALS

■■ Add New | adds a new material. Creates a new thumbnail in the MATERIALS window and a corresponding new
layer in the EDITOR window. When a new material has been selected, clicking Add New copies in the new material
all the parameters of the selected one
■■ Edit | changes the category and the sharing level of the selected material
■■ Use the Search filters at the bottom of the MATERIALS window to quickly refine searches
■■ Hovering the mouse on a thumbnail gives access to information regarding the material, such as the user who cre-
ated it, the date it was created and its category
■■ The text search allows the user to filter materials according to user name and category
The EDITOR |MATERIALS| window
Render preview Save into library Version History
Layer blending mode (normal/additive) Layers
Materials can be edited In the EDITOR window. Note: The FELIX material editor is based on the Maxwell Render mate-
rial system and they share most parameters.
Materials are made up of six different types of “layers” : BSDF, SSS, IOR, Emitter, Coating and Sprite.
For an in-depth look at how to create materials in FELIX please refer to…
■■ BSDF | it’s the most common type of layer.
Most materials can be created with BSDF (plastics, metals, woods, marbles, stones, plasters, glass)
■■ SSS | SSS layers are used to simulate translucency in materials such as wax, resins, liquids with solid residual, trans-
lucent plastics, paper, alabaster and more realistic marbles. They can be used alone or combined with BSDF, IOR
and Coating layers
■■ IOR | IOR materials are scanned from real samples and their characteristics are described by numerical tables
(they are sometimes called NK materials)
■■ Emitter | the emitter layer simulates light emitting materials (i.e. light sources)
■■ Coating | coatings are like thin films on top of every other layer. They are both transparent and highly reflective.
They tend to create interference and to simulate typical iris bows, such as in soap bubbles
■■ Sprite | sprite is a material unique to FELIX. It is useful for creating mass instanced objects like people, trees etc.
with little effort
To apply a texture to a layer, just drag and drop it from the TEXTURES window to any of the following channels:
weight, R0, R90, trans, rough, AN, Angle and Bump.
Main functions of the MATERIAL EDITOR window

■■ Rmb su L1 | adds a new layer to the current material
■■ Rmb su L1 + Delete | removes the selected layer from the current material
■■ Render | renders a material sample
■■ Save | saves the material in a library
Note: before saving a new material FELIX will prompt the user to define its category and sharing level. Only when
the material has been saved, will it be accessible to search engines and ready to be assigned to a Layer.
■■ Rmb on the thumbnail | changes the size of the material sample in preview. Keep in mind that transparent and SSS
materials behave according to the size of the object to which they are applied
■■ To delete a texture, just click on the “T” near the related channel
■■ To adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation of a texture, click on the “E” near the related channel
■■ To invert the luminosity and tint values of a texture, click on the “I” near the related channel
The ENVIRONMENTS window
Search by name, user and ID Search filters
Environments are created and edited in the ENVIRONMENTS window.
Funzioni principali della finestra ENVIRONMENTS

■■ Add New | adds a new Environment. Creates a new thumbnail on the left of the ENVIRONMENTS window and an
empty Environment in the EDITOR window. When an environment has been selected, click Add New to copy all
the parameters of the selected environment into the new environment. This is the fastest way to modify existing
Environments.
■■ Edit | changes the category and sharing level of the selected Environment
■■ Use the search filters at the bottom of the ENVIRONMENTS window to quickly refine searches.
■■ Hovering the mouse on a thumbnail gives access to information regarding the Environment, such as the user who
created it, the date it was created and its category
■■ The text search allows the user to filter Environments by user name and category
The EDITOR |ENVIRONMENTS| window
Render preview Save into library Version History
Layers
In the EDITOR window, a new Environment can be created or an existing one can be modified.
Environments are basically backgrounds that affect the lighting, reflection and diffraction of the scenes.
Unlike materials (which are assigned to layers in the scene), environments are assigned to views (link)
There are three types of backgrounds in FELIX:

Sky Dome a chosen solid color
Physical Sky Maxwell Render’s own physical sky
Texture a bitmap image
Any of these backgrounds can be used alone or in the following combinations:

Texture + Sky Dome
Texture + Physical Sky
Main functions of the EDITOR |ENVIRONMENTS| window

■■ Click on the Sky for disabled channels box to activate one of three options: None, Sky Dome, Physical Sky.
■■ Render | conducts a test rendering of a selected Environment
■■ Save | saves an Environment in the library
Nota: Before saving a new environment FELIX will prompt the user to define its category and sharing level. Only
once an Environment has been saved will it be accessible to search engines and ready to be assigned to a scene.
Note: In the ADDENDUM section of the manual, there is a short-depth analysis of the Environment system.
F E L I X A d d e n d u m | 27
Addendum
Environments
Environments in the ENVIROMENT LIBRARY SETUP
Environments are important in a scene because they affect it in so many ways: background, illumination, reflections,
refractions. Unlike materials (which are assigned to layers in the scene), Environments are assigned to views.
To assign an environment just open the ENVIRONMENT LIBRARY SETUP from the PROJECT window (see Main functions
of the View column in it). It is possible to assign different Environments to various views of the same scene in order to test
different lighting setups.
Only the Environment has been changed in the following three images.
How to create a new Environment
Choose Add New to create a new Environment. A new thumbnail will be created in the ENVIRONMENTS window
and an empty Environment in the EDITOR window. Only the textures in the “Environment” category can be used and
assigned to any channel in the Environment. For instance, a texture in the “Reflection” channel will determine which
Environment will be reflected by materials in the scene.
■■ Use a texture in the Background channel to give a scene a backdrop

■■ Use a texture in the Reflection channel to affect reflections in reflective objects
■■ Use a texture in the Refraction channel to affect refractions in transparent objects
■■ Use a texture in the Illumination channel to light a scene
■■ Select the option Sky Dome under Sky for disabled channels to assign solid colors to channels without a texture
■■ Select the option Physical Sky under Sky for disabled channel to assign Maxwell Physical Sky to channels without
a texture
Use Sky for disabled channel to create “hybrid” Environments with both textures and Sky Dome or Physical Sky.
For every channel of the Environment system that has no texture assigned to it, the option “chosen” under
Sky for disabled channel is used. The only exception is when choosing Physical Sky: in this case, even if there is a
texture in the Illumination channel, the lighting in the scene comes from both that texture and the Physical Sky
itself.
SET-UP Examples
All channels have a texture. Sky for disabled channel is set to None.
This is the most common Environment setup. Only textures affect the lighting of the scene.
Tutti i canali con una texture con Phisycal Sky selezionato dal box di “Sky for disabled channels”.
In questo caso l’environment è influenzato dalle texture e dal sole del “Physical Sky”.
La funzione “Define sun position” permette di orientare il sole facendolo combaciare con quello della texture.
All channels have a texture. Sky for disabled channel is set to Physical Sky.
In this case both textures and the sun of Physical Sky affect the scene.
It is possible to align the sun of the physical sky with the sun in the texture by using the option Define sun position.
The reflection channel has no texture. Sky for disabled channel is set to None.
In this case, there is no Environment reflected in the scene.
The reflection channel has no texture. Sky for disabled channel is set to Sky Dome.
In this case the reflected Environment is a solid color.
No channel has a texture. Sky for disabled channel is set to Physical Sky.
In this case the environment is only the Maxwell Physical Sky.
People and Trees in FELIX
To place people and vegetation in a scene, FELIX provides an “easy to use” technology called “Sprite”.
The following example, shows how to use Sprites in FELIX.
How to insert 10 trees in a scene:

1| in the modeling software, create a “trees” layer with 10 simple triangles placed at the base of the trees and aligned
to the ground
2| in FELIX assign a Sprite material to the “trees” layer. This will instantly replace each triangle with a tree.
The “trees” layer before the sprite material is assigned. The “trees” layer after the Sprite material is assigned
You can also change the Sprite randomness Seed, vary its height H Var and control the height of each Sprite, Size
from the advanced material editing.
NOTE: Since FELIX places any “Sprite” in the center of a triangle, the triangles must be laid-out horizontally and be
coplanar to the surface on which they stand. In this way the triangles linked by sprites will not float in the air.
Due to their nature, Sprite objects are not suitable for bird’s eye views or plans.
TEXTURES MAPPING
The icon bar at the top right of the 3D VIEW window contains the tools for polygon selection and texture alignment.
The two main functions of this tool-set is to correctly map textures on objects and to create sub materials.
Polygon selection tools Texture centering tools Texture allignment tools Exit editing mode
Polygon selection tools Texture centering tools
Select single polygon Center texture to selection
Select cooplanar connected polygons Center texture to selection
Select cooplanar non connected polygons

Texture allignment tools
Select connected polygons Allign by X axis
Select layer Allign by XZ axis
Select by smoothing angle Allign by single spline
Select old selection Allign by two splines
Deselect
The tool bar is divided into three categories:

■■ selection tools
■■ texture centering tools
■■ texture alignment tools
The general workflow for mapping a texture on a geometry is:

■■ first select the polygons to be mapped
■■ define the texture alignment on the polygons
Selection Tools
Select single Polygon | click on one polygon to select it Select cooplanar adiacent Polygons | click on one polygon to
select all the coplanar, as well as the adjacent polygons
IMAGE IMAGE
Select cooplanar non adiacent Polygons | click on one Select connected Polygons | click on one polygon to also se-
polygon to select all the coplanar polygons in that layer lect all the connected polygons (i.e. polygons sharing vertices)
IMAGE IMAGE
Select layer | click on one polygon to select all the polygons in Select by smoothing angle | click on one polygon to select
that layer curved surfaces within an angle threshold
IMAGE IMAGE
Every time a group of polygons is selected, FELIX stores it in a “selection group”. Select old selection allows you to
reselect the old selection group just by clicking on one of the elements in that group.
IMAGE
MAPPING TOOLS
Whenever a material with a texture is assigned to an object, FELIX applies a cubic mapping by “default” to it. In most
cases, the default cubic mapping works well and gives correct results. If the orientation of the default mapping
needs to be modified, the following functions must be used:
■■ Allign by XZ axis
■■ Allign by two splines
The Allign by XZ axis function allows the user to change the The Allign by two splines function allows the user to change
orientation of the cubic mapping axis in three clicks for the se- the texture mapping with two path curves for the selected poly-
lected polygons. The first two clicks define the new X and Y axis, gons. The texture will stretch to follow the given curves as long
the third click defines the new Z axis. as the geometry has enough subdivisions.
IMAGE IMAGE
Use the function Center texture to selection to center a texture on an object, and use Change texture origin to
align a texture seamlessly on the object’s edges. If these two functions are disabled, FELIX will use the 0,0,0 point of
the scene as the origin point for the texture.
Using the function Center texture to selection.
Using the function Change texture origin.

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FELIX

9 The Projects Tab

16 The Material Setup Tab

19 The Material Editor Tab

Advanced firewall configuration

At the moment these numbers are:

Reading / Writing rights

FELIX’s workflow consists of 4 steps:

How to optimize your credits

The menu bar consists of the following items:

How to import 3D models

The first image shows the model currently used by FELIX.

The Projects Tab

By default, FELIX opens up with the Project Tab on at startup.

3DVIEW window IMAGE VIEWER window

PROJECTS window RENDER LIST window

Main functions of the 3D VIEW window

The small icons on the top right are selection tools.

The PROJECT window

Environment Options - Rmb over a view

Main functions of the Project column

Main functions of the Scene column

Main functions of the View column

ENVIRONMENTS LIBRARY SETUP

Main functions of the Render Queue column

The RENDER LIST window

image listing filters

Main functions of the RENDER LIST window

The IMAGE VIEWER window

image resolution zoom save image to folder

Main functions of the IMAGE VIEWER window

The Material Setup Tab

3DVIEW window IMAGE VIEWER window

LAYERS window MATERIALS window

The MATERIALS window

Categories Search History Category Pages Order by Rank Refresh

Search by name, user and ID Search filters Thumbnails

Main functions of the MATERIALS window

The LAYERS window

Main functions of the LAYERS window

The Material Editor Tab

Whenever a texture is imported or a material or environment is saved,

TEXTURES window PREVIEW window

MATERIALS window EDITOR window

The TEXTURES window

Categories Search History Category Pages Order by Rank Refresh

Search by name, user and ID Search filters Thumbnails

Main functions of the TEXTURE window

Materials and Environments editing

Materials and environments editing share the same windows.

The MATERIALS window

Search by name, user and ID Search filters Thumbnails

Materials can be created and edited in the Material window.

Funzioni principali della finestra MATERIALS

The EDITOR |MATERIALS| window

Render preview Save into library Version History

Layer blending mode (normal/additive) Layers

Main functions of the MATERIAL EDITOR window

The ENVIRONMENTS window

Categories Search History Category Pages Order by Rank Refresh

Search by name, user and ID Search filters

Environments are created and edited in the ENVIRONMENTS window.